


Sitting

by skatzaa



Series: Gabriel [4]
Category: The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Before The Storm, Canon Compliant, Gabe Connolly POV, Gen, the Falk Household
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-30 20:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12116775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skatzaa/pseuds/skatzaa
Summary: (I asked the question: how did Tommy and Gabe know to go check on Puck and Finn??This is something of an answer, I guess.)





	Sitting

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I got impatient. Here, have this a bit earlier than expected!

GABE

“A storm’s coming.” 

Norman Falk is as old and weathered as the cliffs, and about as friendly as a _capall_ on a good day, but he knows the sea as well as any other fisherman on this island. If he says there’s a storm, there will be a storm. 

I’m seated on a wide window sill in the Falk home, which means I have a view of the whole living room and kitchen. It also means I’m out of the way when all of Tommy’s many younger brothers and sisters come running through, as they often do. 

Several of them run in now, Tommy trailing behind them with the air of a collie who’s been tasked with herding a particularly stubborn flock of Thisby sheep. 

Norman Falk says, “You know what a storm means, Tommy. Please make sure the house and barn are prepared.” 

I forget, sometimes, that anyone other than me calls him Tommy, because _Tommy_ will always be linked to sneaking off to the middle of fields together when Beech is busy, and his brilliant smile, the same one he flashes at me now as he ruffles the hair of one of the boys. 

He’s so good with each of his siblings, something that’s even more apparent at times like these, when he’s giving them all tasks that are presumably well suited to their strengths. I turn away, because it makes me feel ashamed. I only have Finn and Puck to guide and yet I’m failing miserably, and have been for so long. 

Outside the window, the sky is bright and gray, the type of contradiction that seems unique to Thisby in the fall. The Falk house is perched on cliffs that don’t overlook any of the beaches, and the window I sit at is so close to the edge that I can watch the sea as it tries to claw its way up to us. Something about its yearning reach makes me lean back. 

Tommy is talking to one particularly young girl, the only one left in the room. She shares his light hair and fair features. One day, Thisby willing, she will break hearts, just as her eldest brother does. 

He asks her, “do you think you can help me with that?” 

The girl giggles and nods and follows Tommy out of the room on chubby, toddling legs. 

I remember a time, vaguely, when Puck was that small, a spitfire even then, always standing in my shadow. I remember Finn a little better, but he took to Puck almost immediately as a child, and, unlike me, she slowed enough that Finn could keep up, much like the way Tommy does with his sister now. 

Through the window across the room, I can see Tommy and the girl make their way to the barn. Part of me--the loud, nearly overwhelming part that wants to leave this cursed island as soon as possible--cannot believe he’s willing to bring someone so young so close to a _capall_ in late October. But the Falks are Old Thisby in a way the Grattons are not, and Tommy trusts Aoife as much as anyone should trust a water horse. 

He won’t let her hurt his sister, not while he’s still alive, which is more than I can say for Puck. 

I sit at the window for a while longer, because Norman Falk didn’t ask for my help, and to offer it would only make a nuisance of myself. 

Tommy’s mother, Sarah, stomps her way into the kitchen, but I don’t offer her my help either. Sarah Falk resents me for luring her eldest son away from the island in a way that her husband does not. She, too, is Old Thisby, descended from men who raced on the sands and died there, and I don’t think anyone in her family has ever left, not without also returning. 

I wonder, as I watch her hang her coat and walk to the pantry, if it would endear her to me once more to tell her that I also resent myself for asking Tommy to leave. 

It’s cruelly selfish of me, to take this man from the place that he loves and the people that need him, but I’ve always been selfish. My relationships with Tommy and Peg are evidence enough of that. 

When Tommy comes back inside, it’s nearly dark and he’s cradling the little girl against his chest with one arm. With the other, he pulls his mother in for a hug. She laughs and swats at him with the wooden spoon in her hand, but nonetheless allows him to kiss her cheek. He’s grinning when he hands her his sister, but it fades from his face when he turns and sees me, still perched in the window. 

I wonder if he has remembered to be mad at me for all the things that he deserves to be mad over, but Tommy has never been one to hold a grudge, even when he should. 

“Gabe,” he says, and it is only then that I realize how long it has been since he last said my name. “Will Puck and Finn be alright?” 

I glance behind me through the window overlooking the sea, but it is too dark to discern if the storm has reached the shallows yet. It is also dark enough that I know there is no lightning, which is when you really need to start worrying. 

“They should be fine,” I say. Tommy frowns at me and I frown back, because I can’t understand why he’s so worried about my two siblings, safe at home, when he has his own gaggle to mother hen. 

Two of the boys bang through the front door and run past Tommy to where I know the bedrooms are. Neither are dripping wet, which means the storm hasn’t made landfall yet, at least not on this side of Thisby. 

Norman Falk comes in after them, carrying a girl of about ten as she chatters away at him about something I don’t quite catch. He smiles and her and it’s like watching a crack open up in the cliff face, but her face lights up. 

Finn used to be like that, long before Mum and Dad died, back when he didn’t need to wash his hands for minutes at a time. He could, and would, talk for ages, though Puck and I didn’t have the patience to listen to him, because Mum _always_ took the time to answer his endless questions or respond to his stories. I don’t know when that stopped, don’t remember noticing as it happened, but I miss that version of my brother. This one is too full of sadness and, like everything else on this island, reminds me of what I’ve lost. 

Tommy catches Norman Falk’s eye, and his father puts down the girl immediately, sending her off to the bedrooms as well. 

“Da,” Tommy says, still unusually serious. “Which direction is the storm supposed to come from?” 

Norman Falk runs a hand over his face. He says, “South of Skarmouth, I believe.” 

Tommy’s eyes widen and he looks at me. We all know what an October storm means, and Tommy only confirms it by saying, “That’ll drive the horses straight to your house.” 

Which won’t be a problem, because Puck and Finn will be safe inside. 

But then I meet Tommy’s uncertain gaze again and remember what I asked of him, just last night after the festival, and I remember my brave, stubborn, loyal sister. 

“Dove,” I say, and the fear is finally sinking its teeth into me like it always has. “If Dove is in danger, Puck won’t leave her alone.” 

Tommy glances at his father and Norman Falk says, “Take the car, it’s safer than anything else.” He has the voice of a man who has seen too many die at Thisby’s every changing whim and all the practicality of a fisherman, which I’m suddenly grateful for. 

I think of Tommy’s little sister again, as we stumble in the dark to where the Falks’ car is parked, and hope that we’ll be in time to help protect my own.

**Author's Note:**

> Gabe: oh _woe_ is _me_ , my life sucks, everything is terrible and there's absolutely no way to fix it beyond leaving my siblings alone to fend for themselves while I run away to the mainland.
> 
> Literally everyone else: ?????????
> 
> (Gabe _why are you like this??_ )
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Read On,  
> Skats


End file.
